At a point in time when the Coronavirus seems to be affecting everything, Sony’s Jim Ryan has covered quite a few details about how the upcoming PS5 will not be affected by COVID-19, be it launch date or price. Of course, we still don’t know what the exact launch date for the next-gen console is supposed to be, as both the PS5 and the Xbox Series X have tenable release windows. Both Sony and Microsoft have stated that the intended launch window for these consoles is late 2020, most likely during the holiday season.
For Sony’s part, they have outright confirmed that the holidays of this year is when we can expect the PS5, but more importantly, the COVID-19 situation will apparently not have any impact on the launch date, the price of the console, or the supply situation for it. Sony’s Jim Ryan stated that their plans for the launch have not been disrupted in any way, and that they “remain absolutely on track. We’re going to launch this holiday, we will have a global launch. And we’re greatly looking forward to it. And we very much want the gaming world to look forward to it, too.”
Of course, this is not to say that there will be no shortage of PlayStation 5 consoles on the day of their launch. As anyone who has ever tried to buy a new console on the day of release will tell you, supply goes fast and you have to act faster if you want to get your portion. Chances are the PlayStation 5 will sell out pretty quickly when it launches, but it won’t be because of the Coronavirus: it’ll just be because everyone and their dog is looking to buy one.
Ryan also stated the following. “Right now, we’re not seeing anything saying to us there’s going to be problems with quantities or we won’t be able to launch the way we want.” Taking that into consideration, we can take Sony at their word for now.
As for pricing, Ryan stated in an interview with BBC that the current pandemic has had no impact on Sony’s pricing decisions. Of course, a price has yet to be determined for the console, or more accurately, Sony has not yet informed the public of the price of the PS5 if they have already come to a decision.
As for the console itself, manufacturing is expected to begin soon, since it would have to in order for the console to actually make its holiday launch date. That being the case, it’s possible that the internet could see a leak of the console’s appearance sooner rather than later, seeing as how no one knows what the PS5 will look like even though we have seen the controller that will be used with it. Of course, we have no real information on that: it’s just some hopeful speculation on our part.
